Eyelid support for invalids

ABSTRACT

An eyelid support for invalids comprising an elongated lid support wire longitudinally adjustable with respect to a supporting vertical bar, which latter is vertically adjustable in a track follower, the track follower being horizontally adjustable along a base attachable to a bow of a pair of eyeglasses.

United State S Patent Reeves 1 Jan. 16, 1973 54] EYELID SUPPORT FOR INVALIDS Primary ExaminerRichard A. Gaudet [76] inventor: Willis Di Reeves, 8l2 Omaha Build- Ass'smm q Yasko ing 17m and Fornam, Madison, v Nebr. 67487 ABSTRACT [22] Filed: July 23, 1971 Y An eyelid support for invallds comprising an elongated [2H PP 165l088 lid support wire longitudinally adjustable with respect to a supporting vertical bar, which latter is vertically 52 us. Cl ..1'28/76.5 adjustable in a track follower, track fo o e e g [51] Int. Cl. ..A61h 5/00 horizontally adjustable along a as atta a l t a [58] Field of Search 128/76, 76.5 bow f a pair of eyeglasses.

[56] References Cited 1 1 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS 497,052 5/l893 Lamb ..l28/76.5

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INVENTOR. WILLIS o. REEVES EYELID SUPPORT FOR INVALIDS FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is in the field of medical devices of a mechanical nature for assisting in the support of the eyelids of invalids.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In the prior art one type of eyelid support comprised 'the attachment of a pair of horizontally extending eyelid support wires by fastening one end of each wire to the inner side of the rim surrounding that glass of a pair of eyeglasses which is closest to the support wire. With this structure, the wire is permanently fastened to a frame in one position and is not adapted to be adjusted except by means of bending the wire itself which is difficult at best, and if the adjustment is at first incorrect, a trip to the doctor is necessary for adjustment. And if that adjustment proves, with time, to be not the best, yet another trip to the doctor is necessary for adjustment.

In another prior art type, a single wire for holding up both eyelids extends horizontally behind the rims of a pair of glasses and is supported by pemmanent attachment to the nose-bridge of the glasses. This structure has all of the disadvantages above described, also.

In the prior art, one proposed solution to this problem involved the use of an eyelid support wire which attained a sufficient weaknessfor flexibility by means of its being filed down so as to be quite thin at the one point at which it is filed. This method had the disadvantage that soon the wire becomes fatigued at the point it has thus been weakened wherebybreakage can easily occur. Another disadvantabe of this method is that to weaken a wire by filing is a very inexact method of manufacture, resulting at times in wires that are not sufficiently flexible, at other times, in wires that will quickly break, and at still other times, in wires that are accidentally filed so much as to be unuseable for more than a few minutes use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An eyelid support for invalids comprising an elongated lid support wire -longitudinally adjustable with respect to a supporting vertical bar, which latter is vertically adjustable in a track follower, the track follower being horizontally adjustable along a base attachable to a bow ofa pair of eyeglasses.

With this construction, a doctor can much more easily adjust the eyelid support wire into the very delicately exact position necessary for proper support, not I too high, not too low, not too close, to the eyeball, and not too far from the eyeball.

downwardly at its free end for allowing the wire to remain in engagement with the eyelid before, during, and after blinking.

The vital blinking is down first by the closing of the eye to spread moisture back over the outer parts of the eyeball, then the support wire again flexes downwardly at its free end allowing the eyelid to move downwardly while the wire remains lightly pressed against the eyelid BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken along the line ll of FIG. 2, and showing in dotted lines the position of an invalids eye and a portion of an invalid s eyelid.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of an upper forward portion only of a pair of spectacles with the eyelid support of this invention attached thereto and with the remainder of the spectacles including the rearward portion of the bows and the lower portions of the lenses and rims removed.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing a forward portion of an eyeball and a lower portion of an eyelid, the latter being shown in section, the support wire of this invention being shown in cross-section as engaging the outer side of the eyelid a substantial distance above the lower tip of the eyelid.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5--5 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The invalid eye support of this invention is generally I indicated at 10 inFIG. land is adapted to be attached to a pair of spectacles or eyeglasses generally indicated Another advantage is that if the adjustment proves to be not the best, then the invalid himself orpersons close by the invalid can make adjustments with an ordinary small screwdriver without the necessity of a trip to the doctor. This makes it possible to delicately adjust and perfect the adjustment many times with testing In FIG. 1, an elongated wire 20 is shown as attached to a vertical bar 30 which is vertically slidable in a -verti-.

eyeglasses 12.

The eyelid support wire 20 extends over to the eyeball and has an .upwardly bent offset portion 122 shown in front viewin FIG. 1. The inner end of the wire'20 should be caused to be blunt such asby having a ball fixed to it.

The wire20 is adjustableto the right or left in a wirereceiving slot through which the wire 20 extends.

The slot 150 extends from right to left through the vertical bar 30 and extends from the lower end of the bar upwardly to a point substantially beyond positions in which the wire 20 is to be located. A set screw 160 extends through the forward portion of the vertical bar 30 in an non-threaded fashion and extends into the rearward part of the vertical bar 30 on the opposite side of the slot 150 in which it is received in a threaded manner. Since the set screw 160 has a head on its forward side, the tightening of the set screw will tend to draw the forward and rearward portionsof the bar 30 toward each other for pressing on the wire 20 like a vise.

Vertical movement of the wire 20 is accomplished by verticallymoving the vertical bar 30 in its groove 40 as is permitted by the loosening and resetting of its set screw 190 extending through the track follower 50.

Movement of the entire bar 30 in directions forward and rearward along the bow 80 is made possible by loosening a set screw 200 and then sliding the track follower 50 along the track 60.

In FIG. 3, an important feature is shown in which the wire 20 is seen to bend rearwardly from the position of the front of the eyeglasses in an offset portion 122 so as to be positionable in an ideal position with respect to the pupil of the eye 120.

All of this adjustability has not been possible with the prior art.

It can be seen that the support bar 30 is attached to the eyeglasses bow 80 by means of a horizontal adjust ment assembly generally indicated at 300 and which comprises all of those parts described which do connect the support bar 30 to the bow 80.

Referring now to FIG. 4, it will be seen that the opposite portion 122 of the wire 20 tends to engage the eyelid against the eyeball with a light but firm pressure.

The wire pressure on the eyelid only sufficient enough to keep wire contact position on lid.

This pressure of the wire 20 against thelid is sufiicient to support the eyelid of an invalid, however, this pressure is not so great as to prevent the invalid from blinking his eye.

In operation, the eyelid support wire 20 will have sufficient resiliency and flexibility as to permit the eyelid to blink while the wire bends downwardly at its free end for allowing the wire to remain in engagement with the eyelid before, during, and after blinking.

The vital blinking is done first by the closing of the eye to spread moisture back over the outer parts of the eyeball, then the'support wire again flexes downwardly at its free end, allowing the eyelid to move upwardly while the wire remains lightly pressed against the eyelid so as to be in a biased position to later press the eyelid open again by the springiness of the wire, after eyelid closing muscles have relaxed.

In FIG. 4, the lower edge of the eyelid is seen at 400 with eye lashes 312 and the same are shown in dotted lines at 400 and 312 in FIG. 1.

However, when the eye closes, its lower edge 400 will have moved in a position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1. at 400C, the C of the 400C standing for closed. It is important to observe that when the lower edge of the eyelid moves downward, the wire 20 will have simultaneously moved downward by flexing so that it is free and will have assumed the position shown at C in FIG. 1 which is the eye-closed position, instead of the position 0 which in FIG. 1 illustrates the wire 20 position for when the eye is open.

My solution to the problem of the strength of the wire to use is to use a wire of completely uniform circular cross-section from one end to the other-and chosen to be of the right size in proportionto its resiliency to do the job. In this way, the problems of manufacture are little and quality can be uniform.

I claim:

1. An invalid eye support comprising: an elongated eyelid support wire having an eyelid engaging end section and having its other end attached to the lower end of a vertically elongated support bar at generally a right angle, said vertical support bar being attached to, a horizontal adjustment assembly which is attachable to a bow of a pair of spectacles, said vertically elongated support bar being attached to said horizontal assembly at generally a right angle, said assembly being adapted to attach to said bow in a manner for the adjustable positioning of said support bar in any one of many positions spaced various distances from the forward end of said bow so that said support bar can be firmly attached v 3. The combination of claim 1 in which said support bar has an opening therethrough, saidwire extending through said opening, and set screw means on said bar for fixing said wire in any one of a plurality of different positions of attachment of said barto different positions along said wire. a I

4. The combination of claim I in which said horizontal adjustment assembly comprises a base, means for attaching said base to a bow of a pair of spectacles on the outer side thereof, said basehaving a horizontally extending track attached thereto on its outer side,.a track follower having a groove extending horizontally therethrough from a forward to a rearward side and receiving said forward to rearwardly extending track,

means on said track follower andenga geable with said track for attaching said track follower to said track firmly at any one of many selected positions disposed at various distances from a forward end of said track, said track follower having-a vertical groove in its outer side, I

said bar being received in' said vertical groove,.said

track follower" having means thereon adjustably enbageable with said support bar for firmly fixing said support bar to said track follower at any one of many selected positions vertically spaced apart along said support bar. a

5. The combination of claim 4 in which said means for adjustably attaching said track follower to said track comprises set screw means.

6. The combination of claim 4 in which said means for attaching said track follower to said support bar comprises set screw means.

7. The combination of claim 4 in which said means for attaching said base to said bow comprises rivets.

8. The combination of claim 1 in which said eyelid engaging end section of said wire has an offset for engaging an eyelid.

portion 9. The combination of claim 1 in further combination with a pair of spectacles of the type having rearwardly extending bows.

10. The combination of claim 1 in which said wire is a spring wire having sufficient resiliency and flexibility as to press against a patients eyelid sufficiently to hold the eyelid in an open position, and also to press with a force sufficiently slight that the resiliency and flexibility 

1. An invalid eye support comprising: an elongated eyelid support wire having an eyelid engaging end section and having its other end attached to the lower end of a vertically elongated support bar at generally a right angle, said vertical support bar being attached to, a horizontal adjustment assembly which is attachable to a bow of a pair of spectacles, said vertically elongated support bar being attached to said horizontal assembly at generally a right angle, said assembly being adapted to attach to said bow in a manner for the adjustable positioning of said support bar in any one of many positions spaced various distances from the forward end of said bow so that said support bar can be firmly attached in any one of said positions
 2. The combination of claim 1 in further combination with a pair of spectacles having bows at its sides.
 3. The combination of claim 1 in which said support bar has an opening therethrough, said wire extending through said opening, and set screw means on said bar for fixing said wire in any one of a plurality of different positions of attachment of said bar to different positions along said wire.
 4. The combination of claim 1 in which said horizontal adjustment assembly comprises a base, means for attaching said base to a bow of a pair Of spectacles on the outer side thereof, said base having a horizontally extending track attached thereto on its outer side, a track follower having a groove extending horizontally therethrough from a forward to a rearward side and receiving said forward to rearwardly extending track, means on said track follower and engageable with said track for attaching said track follower to said track firmly at any one of many selected positions disposed at various distances from a forward end of said track, said track follower having a vertical groove in its outer side, said bar being received in said vertical groove, said track follower having means thereon adjustably enbageable with said support bar for firmly fixing said support bar to said track follower at any one of many selected positions vertically spaced apart along said support bar.
 5. The combination of claim 4 in which said means for adjustably attaching said track follower to said track comprises set screw means.
 6. The combination of claim 4 in which said means for attaching said track follower to said support bar comprises set screw means.
 7. The combination of claim 4 in which said means for attaching said base to said bow comprises rivets.
 8. The combination of claim 1 in which said eyelid engaging end section of said wire has an offset portion for engaging an eyelid.
 9. The combination of claim 1 in further combination with a pair of spectacles of the type having rearwardly extending bows.
 10. The combination of claim 1 in which said wire is a spring wire having sufficient resiliency and flexibility as to press against a patient''s eyelid sufficiently to hold the eyelid in an open position, and also to press with a force sufficiently slight that the resiliency and flexibility of the wire will permit the eyelid to move down to close while the eyelid-engaging end section of said wire remains in engagement with the said eyelid.
 11. The combination of claim 10 in which said wire is of a substantially uniform cross-sectional size all along its length so as to have no points along its length which are substantially weaker than any other points. 